INTRODUCTION TO

POLITICS
LECTURES
SESSION 7
MULTILEVEL POLITICS: SUBNATIONAL POLITICS AND
TRANSNATIONAL REGIONALISM
 INTRODUCTION

• THE POWER OF NATION STATES ARE EXTERNALLY UNIFIED BUT

INTERNALLY FRAGMENTED
• DIVISIONS EXIST BETWEEN CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND LOCAL
GOVERNMENT
• DIVISIONS ARE SHAPED BY THE CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK OF A
PARTICULAR NATION (EITHER UNITARY OR FEDERAL)
• EACH DIVISION ESTABLISHES A PARTICULAR TERRITORIAL
DISTRIBUTION OF GOVERNMENT POWER
• THIS DETERMINES CENTRE-PERIPHERY RELATIONS AND
INTERACTIONS
 CENTRALIZATION OR DECENTRALIZATION

• A KEY CHARACTERISTIC OF MODERN STATES IS THAT THEY ARE DIVIDED ON A

TERRITORIAL BASIS
• THIS DIVISION TAKES THE FORM OF CENTRE (NATIONAL) AND PERIPHERY
(REGIONAL, PROVINCIAL AND LOCAL) INSTITUTIONS
• CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORKS DETERMINE CENTRE-PERIPHERY RELATIONS IN
TERMS OF:
• THE DISTRIBUTION OF FUNCTIONS AND REPONSIBILITIES BETWEEN LEVELS OF
GOVERNMENT
• THE MEANS BY WHICH PERSONNEL ARE APPOINTED AND RECRUITED
• THE SCOPE AND POWER OF THE CENTRE AND THE EXTENT OF THE
INDEPENDENCE OF PERIPHERAL BODIES
• IN ALL THIS, CENTRAL GOVERNMENT PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE
 THE IMPORTANCE OF A CENTRAL
GOVERNMENT

• KEY ACTOR IN WORLD STAGE (ENTERS INTO AND NEGOTIATE

ALLIANCES, TRADE AGREEMENTS)
• GAINING REPRESENTATION AT INTERNATIONAL SUMMITS AND
BECOMES MEMBER OF SUPRANATIONAL BODIES
• RESPONSIBLE FOR A STATES EXTERNAL RELATIONS BY ITS CONTROL
OF FOREIGN, DIPLOMATIC AND DEFENCE POLICY
• MEDIATES BETWEEN PERIPHERAL BODIES TO ENSURE COPERATION
• CONTROLS THE STATES ECONOMIC LIFE
 CENTRALIZATION AND ITS ADVANTAGES

• IS ‘THE CONCENTRATION OF POLITICAL

POWER OR GOVERNMENT AUTHORITY AT
THE NATIONAL LEVEL’ (HEYWOOD, 2007)
• ENGENDERS NATIONAL UNITY
• FACILITATES UNIFORMITY
• ENHANCES EQUALITY
• SPURS PROSPERITY
LIMITS TO CENTRALIZATION: THE CASE FOR
DECENTRALIZATION

• NATURE OF MODERN STATES LIMITS THE EXTENT OF

CENTRALIZATION
• POSES CHALLENGES FOR BUREAUCRATIC EFFICIENCY AND CAN LEAD
TO ‘DISECONOMIES OF SCALE’
• HENCE THE NEED TO VEST DOMESTIC RESPONSIBILITIES WITH
PERIPHERAL INSTITUTIONS
• DECENTARLIZATION INVOLVES THE TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITIES
AND DECISION-MAKING POWER FROM CENTRAL TO PERIPHERAL
BODIES
• THIS, HOWEVER, HAS ADVANTAGES FOR EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE
 DECENTRALIZATION AND ITS ADVANTAGES

• IS THE ‘EXPANSION OF LOCAL AUTONOMY THROUGH THE

TRANSFER OF POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES AWAY FROM
NATIONAL BODIES’ (HEYWOOD, 2007: 165)
• ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION
• ENSURES RESPONSIVENESS
• STRENGTHENS DEMOCRATIC ACCOUNTABILITY
• GUARANTEES LEGITIMACY
• PROTECTS LIBERTY
 CENTRE-PERIPHERY RELATIONS

• HISTORI-CULTURAL, GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICO-ECONOMIC FACTORS SHAPE THE BALANCE

BETWEEN CENTRALIZATION AND DECENTRALIZATION
• MOST PROMINENT AMONG THIS IS THE CONSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE STATE AND
LOCATION OF SOVEREIGNTY
• CONSTITUTIONLA STRUCTURE PROVIDES THE FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH CENTRE-PERIPHERY
RELATIONS ARE CONDUCTED
• FEDERAL AND UNITARY SYSTEMS ARE TWO OF THE MOST COMMON FORMS OF TERRITORIAL
ORGANIZATIONS IN THE MODERN WORLD
• A THIRD, BUT MOSTLY UNSUSTAINABLE FORM, IS CONFEDERATION
• THESE ARE ‘QUALIFIED UNION OF STATES IN WHICH EACH STATE RETAINS ITS INDEPENDENCE,
TYPICALLY GUARANTEED BY UNANIMOUS DECISION MAKING’ (HEYWOOD, 2007: 165).
• CAN, IN THE ABSENCE OF EFFECTIVE CENTRAL BODY, METAMORPHOSE INTO FEDERAL SYSTEMS
OR DISINTEGRATE ALTOGETHER
 FEDERAL SYSTEMS

• REFERS TO THE LEGAL AND POLITICAL STRUCTURES THAT DISTRIBUTE

POWER TERRITORIALLY WITHIN A STATE
• LIES BETWEEN A UNITARY STATE AND A CONFEDERATION
• HOWEVER, MORE COMMON THAN CONFEDERAL SYSTEMS
• EXAMPLES INCLUDE USA, BRAZIL, NIGERIA, PAKISTAN, SWITZERLAND ETC
• CENTRAL FEATURE IS SOVEREIGNTY IS SHARED BETWEEN CENTER AND
PERIPHERY
• ENSURES THAT NEITHER CAN ENCROACH ON THE POWERS OF THE OTHER
• BASED UPON A COMPROMISE BETWEEN UNITY AND REGIONAL DIVERSITY
AND BETWEEN THE NEED FOR EFFECTIVE CONTROL AND THE NEEDS FOR
CHECKS ON POWER
 WHY FEDERALISM?

• CERTAIN COMMON FEATURES CAN BE FOUND IN FEDERAL STATES

• THIS SUGGESTS THAT FEDERAL PRINCIPLE IS MORE APPLICABLE TO
CERTAIN STATES THAN OTHERS
• HOWEVER, FEDERAL SYSTEMS COME ABOUT AS A RESULT OF THE
FOLLOWING FACTORS:
• THE DESIRE FOR ESTABLISHED POLITICAL COMMUNITIES TO FORM A
POLITICAL ORGANIZATION YET MAINTAINING THEIR AUTONOMY
• THE EXISTENCE OF AN EXTERNAL THREAT OR A DESIRE TO PLAY A MORE
EFFECTIVE ROLE IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
• GEOGRAPHICAL SIZE
• CULTURAL AND ETHNIC HETEROGENEITY
 FEATURES OF FEDERALISM

• EACH FEDERAL SYSTEM IS UNIQUE

• HOWEVER, THEY ALL SHARE CERTAIN COMMON
FEATURES:
• TWO RELATIVELY AUTONOMOUS LEVELS OF
GOVERNMENT
• WRITTEN CONSTITUTION
• CONSTITUTIONAL ARBITER
• LINKING INSTITUTIONS
 UNITARY SYSTEMS

• THE MOST COMMON FORM OF GOVERNMENT IN THE CONTEMPORARY

WORLD
• SOVEREIGN POWER IS VESTED IN A SINGLE, NATIONAL INSTITUTION
• CENTRAL GOVERNMENT DECIDES HOW POWER IS SHARED AND DISPERSED
• TWO DISTINCT INSTITUTIONAL FORMS OF PERIPHERAL AUTHORITY EXIST
IN UNITARY STATES
• LOCAL GOVERNMENT (SPECIFIC TO A PARTICULAR LOCALITY)
• DEVOLUTION (THE PASSING DOWN OF POWERS FROM HIGHER
AUTHORITY).
 LOCAL GOVERNMENT

• GOVERNMENT SPECIFIC TO A PARTICULAR LOCALITY

• HAS NO SHARE IN SOVEREIGNTY
• ARE POLITICALLY RELEVANT, ADMINISTRATIVELY
NECESSARY AND INTELLIGIBLE
• ITS PRESERVATION RELIES ON POWERS GIVEN FROM
THE CENTRE
• HOW MANY LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS ARE IN THE
GAMBIA? 8? Banjul, Basse, Brikama, Janjanbureh,
Kanifing, Kerewan, Kuntaur AND Mansakonko
 DEVOLUTION

• THE STATUTORY GRANTING OF POWERS FROM THE CENTRAL

GOVERNMENT OF A SOVEREIGN STATE TO GOVERNMENT AT A SUBNATIONAL
LEVEL
• CREATED IN RESPONSE TO INCREASING CENTRIFUGAL TENSIONS WITHIN A
STATE
• DIFFERS FROM FEDERALISM AS POWERS ARE TEMPORARY AND RESIDE WITH
CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
• DEVOLVED ASSEMBLIES CAN BE REPEALED BY CENTRAL GOVERNMENT
• YET THEY ARE HARD TO WEAKEN AND ABOLISH
• THOUGH THEY HELP ABATE CENTRIFUGAL PRESSURES, THEY CAN LEAD TO
STATE BREAK-UP.
 TRANSNATIONAL REGIONALISM

• REGIONALISM IN GENERAL TERMS IS THE PROCESS THROUGH WHICH

GEOGRAPHICAL REGIONS BECOME SIGNIFICANT POLITICAL AND/OR
ECONOMIC UNITS
• TWO FACES CHARACTERISE REGIONALISM:
• SUBNATIONAL- PROCESS OF DECENTRALISATION THAT TAKES PLACE
WITHIN COUNTRIES
• TRANSNATIONAL- PROCESS OF COOPERATION OR INTEGRATION BETWEEN
COUNTRIES OF THE SAME REGION
• AN ONGOING PROBLEM WITH REGIONALISM IS LINKED TO THE CHALLENGE
OF ESTABLSIHING THE NATURE AND EXTENT OF A REGION
• THUS, WHAT IS A REGION: A GEOGRAPHICAL AREA? A SOCIO-CULTURAL
ENTITY?
 TYPES OF REGIONALISM

• SECURITY REGIONALSIM
• POLITICAL REGIONALISM
• ECONOMIC REGIONALISM
 TEST: ANSWER ONLY ONE QUESTION(NOT
MORE THAN ONE PAGE!!!!)

1. POLITICS IS CONSIDERED AS A PARTICULAR MEANS OF RESOLVING

CONFLICT THROUGH COMPROMISE, CONCILLIATION AND NEGOTIATION.
USING THIS DEFINTION OF POLITICS, CRITICALLY DISCUSS AND PROPOSE
A SOLUTION TO THE CURRENT ETHNO-POLITICAL TENSIONS IN THE
GAMBIA.
2. AT THE HEART OF SOCIAL DEMOCRACY IS A COMPROMISE BETWEEN, ON
ONE HAND, AN ACCEPTANCE OF CAPITALISM AS THE ONLY RELIABLE
MECHANISM FOR WEALTH GENERATION AND, ON THE OTHER, A DESIRE
TO REDISTRIBUTE THIS WEALTH IN ACCORDANCE WITH MORAL RATHER
THAN MARKET PRINCIPLES. IN LIGHT OF THE ABOVE, DISCUSS